February 12 to March 16, 2010
Deriving its name, Combat Zone, from the brawling sailors and soldiers that frequented the number of movie theaters, bars, restaurants and lounges during the 1950's and 1960's. It was largely an unrestricted public sphere teeming with all kinds of activity and human behavior legal and otherwise. By the 1970's, an unprecedented social and cultural transformation had taken place. Many theaters began to screen adult movies and strip clubs such as "Teddy Bare Lounge", the "Naked Eye", and the "Two O'clock Club" along with the burlesque house, "The Pilgrim Theatre", grew in popularity. These establishments have since been demolished, their demise attributed to a number of socio-political and economic factors that have changed the urban landscape of Boston.
The works of Angier, Berndt and Goodman depict the Combat Zone during the pinnacle of its transformation, and provides a view into the complex world of adult entertainment, still today a lightning rod for cultural conflict in American society. Jerry Berndt and John Goodman photographed the provocative and at times, arresting energy of the streets as well as the personas that inhabited them. Roswell Angier provides an intimate perspective of the nightclubs and their performers. These three photographers created a unique portrait of a time and place as they captured the energy of the street, the clubs, and the general mayhem of the night that was the Combat Zone.(press release excerpt)
LISTEN TO JOHN GOODMAN AND HOWARD YEZERSKI TALK ON WBUR
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